Despite renewed concerns about the price of gas, most Americans still aren’t likely to buy an electric car in the next 10 years.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 27% of Adults say it’s at least somewhat likely they’ll buy an electric car within the next decade. That’s down 13 points from early August 2009 when 40% felt that way. Sixty-four percent (64%) say it’s not likely they’ll purchase an electric vehicle. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

These findings include just 11% who say it’s Very Likely they’ll purchase an electric car in the next 10 years and 29% who say it’s Not At All Likely.

Clean energy supporters note that electric cars will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions significantly. But nearly half (49%) of Americans are more likely to buy an electric car because of high gas prices, not because it's good for the environment. Twenty-six percent (26%) feel the environment is more of a reason to go electric, but just as many (25%) are not sure. These figures show little change from October 2008.

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on January 20-21, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level -of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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